


Fallen Pieces

by TwistedK



Series: Random Drabbles [3]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Headcanon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-04-01
Packaged: 2018-03-18 14:09:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3572501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedK/pseuds/TwistedK
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erwin and Levi falling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [danchomademedoit's](http://danchomademedoit.tumblr.com/) headcanon: Erwin and Levi often play chess together. Levi sucks balls at it, but it helps Erwin relax and he comes up with the best tactics when they're playing. They lose hours like that, and while Levi doesn't like the game, he likes observing Erwin, feeling as though he can read him better than ever. ;)

Levi didn’t know the first thing about chess until he spots a chess set collecting dust on Erwin’s shelf. The man, known for his talent in reading his opponent’s every move, mistakes Levi’s scowl for curiosity and offers to teach him how to play. Levi agrees on the condition that Erwin cleans it. And the low table he set it on.

He learns that the white pieces move first, that the king is the endgame, but the queen holds more power. Under Erwin’s patient tutelage in the candlelit evenings in his office, Levi learns the subtleties of chess.

It is strategy and it is Erwin Smith’s game.

He was brought into the Survey Corps as a weapon. He was a pawn. A bishop, at best. Erwin stands behind the legion, protected but powerful. He’d send his pawns and rooks to their fates, luring Levi this way and that, taking victory in the end. Later Levi is adept enough to put up a challenge and takes Erwin’s queen. A little surge of savage pride makes its way to his head until Erwin delivers the final blow with his remaining pieces and comes out victorious anyway.

They lose hours like that, even after expeditions where Erwin sends men to certain death for the victory of humanity. But Levi has faith, loyalty that runs so deep he mistakes it for his own blood. He will gladly be the bishop to fall against the knight so the queen-so Erwin-can claim their victory. Erwin, after all, is a master of the board and of war.

But in the quiet glow of candles, Levi finds the crease on Erwin’s brow deep and harsh. Burrowed in it isn’t the focus Erwin wears when the cogs in his head churn in the middle game, watching for threats, taking his gains. Erwin is caught in the day’s losses, in the people who are not pawns, not knights, not rooks, not bishops. People who have pledged their hearts to him and his cause. Living, then burned just like wooden pieces. Valuable but expendable.

Levi cautiously lays a hand on Erwin’s, gripped tightly around a fallen knight piece. “Erwin,” Levi calls. “Put it back.”

Erwin blinks out of his thoughts and gives the other a puzzled look.

“Put it back,” Levi regards the knight in his hand. “You’re done losing pieces for today.”

Because strategy might be Erwin’s game, but Levi is neither stupid nor blind. He finally realizes why Erwin can spend hours of precious sleep playing with him, comfortable to put pawns in his path to lure him into traps. Erwin can use his brutal, ruthless ways on the board without consequences, sacrifice half his army for the endgame, revel in his victory in a way he can never do in the field.

Chess is strategy. It is war. But it doesn’t carry the same responsibility Erwin unloads from his shoulders over a friendly game, absent of any death.

One evening, Erwin returns from the capital, furious. His usual calm is overcome by a visible flare in his nostril and a vein that jumps at his neck. Word has reached the headquarters that they are cutting budget for the legion for the second time this month. Ranks will be rearranged before they are ready. With an expedition drawing near, it could mean certain failure for them.

Levi follows him into his office and sets the black and white pieces on the board. Erwin, still agitated, waves him off. Levi stands his ground.

“Play with me, Erwin.”

And so he does. The match runs so long that Levi gets up somewhere in the middle of it to replace a candle melted within an inch of its life. Calm does not find Erwin that evening as it usually does when they waste hours on playing at war. His jaw remains clenched, eyes dark and distant in worry.

Levi gets an inkling of what worries him as he takes one of Erwin’s bishops. The blond moves his pawn back. Levi moves forward, Erwin avoids him at every turn. In an uncharacteristic play, Erwin moves his queen away. His most powerful weapon, protected better than the king, far away from the skirmish.

Erwin is defensive.

“Levi,” Erwin says slowly. “You are to be promoted to captain in the coming month.”

Levi hums. Erwin rubs his face. “It means… It means you will be this legion’s prime weapon.”

_You will be our queen_.

They continue the rest of the match in silence, the announcement sitting heavy in Levi’s gut and suddenly they are running out of the time they continue to waste. Erwin is down to the last few pieces, most lost to false traps Levi had set, to unmeasured guesses. He plays with his heart instead of his head. He tips his queen and hesitates.

Levi takes Erwin’s queen and moves it against his own bishop, placed there to take the queen and then victory. Erwin is the endgame now. Without him, the legion and humanity will not survive. Levi understands he must be powerful and versatile to protect Erwin. He doesn’t know if it’s the right thing to say but that he must say it now before the last candle burns out.

“Be sure I make it to the endgame, Erwin. That we make it to the end.” Erwin meets his gaze, burning gold and silver, and understands they have no more time to waste on playing.

He takes his queen. The king is slain in the end and all pieces have fallen.

“The threat,” Erwin says, exhausted but enlightened. “Is stronger than the execution.”

Levi does not have a clue what he means. No matter. Erwin has already won the match.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the middle of the rain, Levi falls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From [literally-the-president](http://literally-the-president.tumblr.com/)'s prompt: I had a thought about Levi's gear malfunctioning and he falls and Erwin has to catch him.
> 
> Thank you!

It happens not in any way he's heard it happen to others. Not that Levi is particularly interested in how it happens to others, but it's hard to tune out Petra's voice cracking with giggles as she blossoms into something precious when she tells him and Gunther how Oluo had given her a single flower and told her he had loved her from the first time he laid eyes on her.

Nor is it easy to ignore Mike sighing after Nanaba, quiet and wistful, making Levi think of lovesick fools half their age. Later Mike comes bounding into the mess hall, light on his feet, with a modest parcel wrapped in linen. He unwraps it in front of Levi and they both feast their eyes on a tin full of  bread, golden and dotted with dried fruit. Mike inhales, lungs full of the warm aroma, and  whispers like Sina, Rose, and Maria descended from the skies and granted him eternal life, "They're from Nanaba."

No. For Levi, it doesn't happen like that.

It happens in the forest in the middle of a torrential storm that has the expedition sacrifing half their carts, a third of their horses, and all of their safety. The rain comes down in walls and they can hardly see anything as they zip through the dense forests. The Titans behind them are unperturbed by the weather, running after them like mindless, hungry children.

Somewhere beside Levi, he hears the loud smack of flesh against a tree, followed by an agonized scream, then the crunch of bones.

Hange is yelling for their squad. Someone barks orders to the new recruits and flies past them. Levi catches a glimpse of green cloaks somewhere in his peripherals. A red scarf. Armin. Green eyes. For a second or two, he's flanked by Mike and Nanaba when he lands on a branch, then they're gone flying again.

He stills on the branch and shields his eyes from the rain with his hand, tired and trembling around his blade. It had been a relentless attack from all side and from above. What was supposed to be a scouting mission quickly turned into a massacre. An ambush. A forest full of blood.

Petra lands beside him with blood on her face. Levi can't tell if it's evaporating or simply washed away by the rain.

"Captain, the Commander ordered a full retreat. The horses are in a clearing ahead, we're going to cle--"

"Where is Erwin?"

"He is in the rear of the formation, he ordered us to leave him--"

Levi sends his grapple flying to the nearest tree, keeping his transitions short and quick between the branches, unable to see further than a meter or so away. The forest makes it hard to move with its density. And yet the rain beats down on them. So many trees without any shelter.

Below he feels more than hears or sees the Titans, running and shaking the earth and flesh of soldiers beneath their feet. An unfortunate fall in the mud renders their gears useless. And there is too much mud. He moves quicker to the rear, keeping an ear out for Erwin's voice. Instead he hears orders bellowed above the relentless beating of the storm. Cries. Scream. Bones crushed and crushing.

"Levi!"

He immediately follows the voice and finds Erwin on a horse, soaked in mud so thick it doesn’t wash off. Around him were soldiers trying to shake the mud and muck off their gear. Some manage to leave the ground, the others clamber on to any horse they find. All that rain and none of it could wash the mud off them fast enough.

"Levi head to the front!"

Levi lands beside Erwin despite the closing tremble of the ground. It’s a dangerous move but the moment feels somewhat final and he needs to see Erwin. Close.

"Go! I can handle it back here, your gear is fucked."

Erwin hesitates. The others have managed to start their way forward and it's only him and Levi left in the rear. He knows his horse is injured, or exhausted from galloping in mud, making the creature slow and perilous.

"Go, Erwin!" Levi yells at him and it startles his horse. Just in time. Levi can see a Titan approaching, arms flailing wildly. An Abnormal. And he can see its mouth with teeth lined up to the cheeks. It's close enough. Too close.

So Levi flies on instinct, his body and gear carrying him without thought. But he does look back, just for a moment, to find Erwin riding away. He's safe.

But instinct only carries Levi so far. He flies in blindness around the Abnormal and few other Titans that arrive. The smaller monster fall easily and Levi no longer feels the dangerous rush of blood in his veins. This is easy. This is manageable. This could be certain death but it's also certain safety for Erwin.

He lets his thoughts wander too long and doesn't see the Abnormal's hand coming down at him in time to avoid it. He veers sharply to the right with a loud grunt and a giant finger catches on to his left just after he slashes the Titans arm useless. Even in the rain, he could smell the rancid vapor of quickly healing flesh.

"Fuck," he whispers from a high branch, looking down to the steaming Titan. If it reached its hands fully upwards, it can reach Levi easily. He scans his gear and finds the left one warped. He tries to propel the other and it catches at the mechanism. The monster seems to know he's trapped up there. It waits with too many teeth below him and the rain lets up enough so that he can clearly see the flesh of its shoulders stitching together.

In a moment of clarity, Levi laughs. Loud. His voice doesn't travel far. There is no one left around to hear his sad, humorless laughter bounce against the trees. He's going to be left behind here. He is valuable, no, his strength is valuable. But if they lose him, they will find someone else to fight. Mikasa will take his place. Eren. Maybe even Jean. Someone else will keep Erwin safe. And in that moment, Levi accepts his fate and sits on the high branch. He counts the beats before the Titan's shoulder heals.

Then he hears it. Unmistakably close. The sounds of hooves slapping against the mud. He looks behind him, below. It's Erwin.

"Levi, jump!" The voice cuts through the rain and mutes it to a dull white noise. The Titan takes no notice of Erwin and reaches up to Levi, hand wide and menacing. And Levi obeys Erwin without question. He only answers with Relief. Gratitude. Something fierce and deep in his bones--the absolute conviction that, no, he cannot die. No one else can protect Erwin. No one else must.

That's his alone to fulfill.

He falls, and Erwin catches him.

Erwin survives with a broken collar bone and a swollen eye from where Levi lands on him; Levi has a bruised rib and a shitty story of how he falls in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at action but I just want Levi falling in love in the most ungraceful way so I guess it works?

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know shit about chess, so sorry. But apparently, "The threat is stronger than the execution" is a chess saying. Meaning threats usually fucks up both sides. Double edged sword, perhaps?


End file.
